Russia on Monday said that the leader of the Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus was killed in a special operation, and militants confirmed his death.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that Aliaskhab Kebekov was “neutralized” during a special operation in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan.
The Kavkaz Center Web site, used by rebels to release statements, confirmed Kebekov’s death, saying that “our dear brother became a martyr.”
Kebekov, 43, a Dagestan native, took over as leader of the Caucasus Emirate group last year after the death of its veteran Chechen leader, Doku Umarov. Russia included Kebekov on its federal list of terrorists and extremists. He was declared wanted in 2012 on charges of membership in an illegal armed group.
The US named Kebekov a “global terrorist,” referring to what they called his claimed readiness to carry out orders from al-Qaeda
The Caucasus Emirate is a Muslim extremist group created in 2007 that has claimed responsibility for a string of deadly attacks in a simmering insurgency. It aims to establish a Muslim state in the region and has called for global jihad.
Rebel activity has dropped recently, but fighters are said to have traveled from the North Caucasus to take part in conflicts abroad, particularly in the ranks of the Islamic State group fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Russia said Kebekov was killed with four others, including two regional leaders of the insurgents, during the security operation in the town of Buinaksk that began on Sunday and ended on Monday.
Forces from Russia’s Federal Security Bureau (FSB) security force and Ministry of the Interior surrounded the rebels in a building and opened answering fire after attempts to negotiate broke down, the committee said.
The building where the rebels were hiding was destroyed during the fighting and the bodies were pulled out from under the collapsed walls, the Russian authorities said.
The regional Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan posted photographs of a fire burning fiercely inside a collapsed building.
Those in the building included several women who refused to leave, while a child was handed out and survived, Russia’s antiterrorism committee said.
Russia said Kebekov was directly involved in organizing suicide bombings in the southern city of Volgograd in 2013 that killed 34 people.
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